Clinton neighbor's account of attack 'unusual'

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Police detective Sgt. Marc Simmons holds a sketch of a possible murder suspect during a press conference in the town of Newcastle, N.Y., near the Chappaqua residence of former President Bill Clinton, on Monday.

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Questions have multiplied since police began their investigation into the weekend shooting of a disbarred lawyer and his wife, who lived on the same cul-de-sac as former President Clinton.

Police said Tuesday that 58-year-old Carlos Perez-Olivo’s story of a mysterious roadside ambush that killed his wife and left him wounded is “unusual-sounding,” and have not ruled out the possibility he had something to do with the shootings.

No arrests have been made and police said the lawyer was permitted to leave Northern Westchester Hospital late Monday. He apparently returned to his home on a Chappaqua cul-de-sac.

Visitors arrived steadily at the home. A man who answered the door, Drew Stern, identified himself as a friend of the family and said a statement would be issued to the media but did not say when and he asked reporters to leave the property.

The lawyer’s wife, teacher’s assistant Peggy Perez-Olivo, 55, died Monday afternoon, the victim of a gunshot to the head. Her husband told police the shot was fired by a man who cut off their car on a dark road Saturday night, then climbed in and shot both of them as they returned from an evening in Manhattan.

The road would not normally be part of the route home, but Perez-Olivo said they had detoured to find a gas station. He said he was able to drive to the hospital despite his abdominal wound.

'Nobody's being ruled in or out'He told police he did not recognize the gunman, but he described him in detail. The police issued a sketch and asked the public for help.

Asked whether investigators considered treating Perez-Olivo as a suspect, New Castle Detective Sgt. Marc Simmons said, “We’re treating him like a shooting victim.”

But he added, “Nobody’s being ruled in or out” and said Perez-Olivo’s account makes for “an unusual-sounding incident.”

Police declined to answer questions about what type of gun was used, whether the gun or any shell casings had been found, or whether surveillance video from a gas station near the shooting scene had been useful.

They also would not comment on any motive for the shooting, although Simmons said detectives would look into some of Carlos Perez-Olivo’s former clients.

Perez-Olivo was disbarred three months ago for refusing to return unearned funds to clients, and jurors have criticized him as incompetent in his defense of a murder suspect.

The killing of a neighbor had no apparent effect on security at the Clinton home three doors away.

“The Clintons are saddened to hear of the death of their neighbor Mrs. Perez-Olivo,” said Philippe Reines, press secretary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.